


Back in Her Kingdom

by Bakuzan_Sickle_Claw



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Amusement Parks, Closure, Dinosaurs, Friendship/Love, Gay, Love, M/M, OTP Feels, Old Age, Old Married Couple, Older Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 08:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3970213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bakuzan_Sickle_Claw/pseuds/Bakuzan_Sickle_Claw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ian sighs, closes his eyes and rubs his temple with his forefinger. “Yeah, I know, but I gotta do this. Now or never.” He pauses and warily looks up at the enormous gray gates above their heads, which read TYRANNOSAURUS REX KINGDOM in blue letters. “You ready?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back in Her Kingdom

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I didn't quite continue my high-school AU storyline, but I do have plans to continue it at some vaguely-defined point in the future. Until then, here's something for everyone who requested more Ian/Alan. If it sucks, at least my work with this OTP is far from over.
> 
> I don't own Jurassic Park, Jurassic World or these two fucking adorable scientist dorks.

“You sure we’re still doing this?” Alan asks the other man for possibly the eightieth time that day. Every few times he’s asked, the answer has changed, and they’re nearly at the point of no return. And frankly, he’s not entirely sure he wants to go through with it himself. 

Ian swallows and nods. “Yeah. Just—gimme a second here.” He removes his leather jacket—it’s a wonder, really, that he’s kept it on this long through the oppressively hot and humid Costa Rican summer day—and folds it over his arm. Behind the pair of aged scientists, streams of tourists in sun hats and tank tops make their way through the park’s streets, adults laughing and children playing. For everyone else on the island, Jurassic World is an enjoyable, carefree vacation spot, but the two of them don’t have such luxuries. Ian glances at Alan expectantly; he returns the look. “Well? Do you, uh, want me to push you in?”

Alan shakes his head. “I just wanted to make sure. If you’re having another panic attack today, it’ll be here.”

Ian sighs, closes his eyes and rubs his temple with his forefinger. “Yeah, I know, but I gotta do this. Now or never.” He pauses and warily looks up at the enormous gray gates above their heads, which read TYRANNOSAURUS REX KINGDOM in blue letters. “You ready?”

“Ready.” Alan grabs Ian’s rough, worn hand in his own, and the two of them make their way through the gates, past a fern-lined path with a series of signs bearing information about predatory dinosaurs and through a winding queue area. Alan tries to breathe deeply, steeling himself for what’s ahead. Ian is right—it’s now or never, and if they don’t do this, there are parts of both of their lives that will always feel like loose and frayed threads, never tied up neatly or resolved. If they run from this place like they both desperately want to, they might regret it forever. And at their ages, regrets can’t be easily afforded. 

They expected it not to be too crowded, but to Alan’s surprise, the viewing area is totally empty. It’s late in the evening and the Mosasaur feeding show is going on; they picked this time on purpose, and their plan to have a little time alone has apparently worked. They make their way into the main viewing area, some sort of long and narrow tunnel that’s almost like the inside of a log. Ian gives Alan one last glance and hesitantly makes his way up to one of the wide glass windows. Alan follows, standing slightly behind his boyfriend, and stares out at the inside of the T. rex enclosure. It looks for all the world like a tropical jungle, lush and peaceful, the rays of a deep orange sunset shining through the green tree branches. A few feet away there’s an empty platform with a chain attached, presumably for a small animal, one for the rex to lunge at and tear apart with blood and bits of meat flying everywhere—Alan closes his eyes and shakes his head, refusing to allow thoughts like that to weaken his resolve. He instinctively reaches out and puts his hand on Ian’s shoulder for comfort; the other man reaches back and caresses it understandingly. “You think it’ll even notice us?” he finally asks.

Ian bites his lip and thinks for a moment. “Nah. Probably used to humans by now.” He pauses and turns his head. “Why, you—you think it’ll recognize you?”

“I hope not,” Alan says, laughing nervously. 

“It won’t,” Ian says, trying his best to sound effortless. “Where is the damn thing anyway?” He reaches over and knocks on the glass window. “Hey, we’re—we’re paying customers here! You wanna grace us with your presence?”

Alan all but yanks him back. “Ian! Jesus, don’t make it angry!” His heart starts to pound—what if it comes over and tries to smash the glass, what if it does recognize them , what if it comes stomping over and opens its massive jaws and roars and—

“Shh. Okay. Shh.” Ian’s arms are suddenly wrapped around Alan, his hands comfortingly stroking his back. He kisses Alan’s cheek, and Alan takes a deep, shuddering breath. “It’s okay, honey, it’s okay. I—I was just joking. It’s okay. Nothing’s gonna happen, I promise.” 

Alan finally manages to fill his lungs with air and slowly exhale. Ian lets go and keeps his hands on Alan’s shoulders, holding him at arm’s length and searching his face for fear. “Gonna be okay?” Ian asks. “You wanna just come back later?”

“Fine, no, I’m okay,” Alan says, and he’s about to smile and comment on Ian’s distinctive concerned-parent voice when distant impacts begin to shake the floorboards beneath them. Both men freeze, exactly the same thoughts racing through both of their heads. After a second, it’s Alan who remembers where they are and grabs Ian’s arm, anchoring him so he doesn’t take off running. He guides Ian to the glass, but the taller man takes a good step back and Alan doesn’t hesitate to follow. After the tremors grow stronger and stronger and the trees and bushes gently rustle, a huge brown leg and then another burst through the foliage. Slowly, the huge animal in front of them takes a few heavy steps toward the viewing area and begins to lower its massive frame. Ian grabs Alan’s upper arm and squeezes so hard it hurts, and Alan steps back and instinctively prepares himself to run.

But the T. rex’s boxy head makes its way in front of the window, and neither of them tries to flee. They stay silent and motionless, frozen to the spot like terrified statues as the creature’s scaly face comes into full view and regards them with mild interest. The rex’s yellow eyes seem to bore through their bodies, and its snout is so close to them that its heavy breath fogs up the glass. Its mouth opens slightly and its big, thick tongue flicks over its rows of jagged teeth; Ian’s hand somehow tightens even more. The animal stares at its two lone visitors for a minute that seems like hours, and then with a soft snort and grunt of presumable disappointment, its head lifts and disappears from view.  
It takes a full minute for Ian’s grip to loosen and for Alan to breathe again. Both of them look around wildly, Ian frantically patting his chest and his bad leg as if he can’t believe he’s still intact and Alan panting like he’s just finished a marathon. After a few seconds of feeling dizzy, Alan lets himself fall to the ground with his legs in front of him, heart still pounding hard against his ribcage. Above him, Ian turns away from the rex that’s still looking around the general area, and he begins to giggle incredulously. Their eyes meet, and it’s only a second before the two of them burst out in breathless laughter, both of them soaring on the adrenaline wave that hit them when they faced their biggest fear. The fight-or-flight in Alan’s gut had to go somewhere, he supposes, so he just lets the enormous spike of adrenaline turn into relief and laughs along with Ian until there are tears in his eyes. 

After he nearly falls over laughing, Ian extends a hand and helps Alan slowly stand up, and the two of them stand together with arms around each other’s backs, leaning on one another and shaking hard with leftover adrenaline. They’re here, they’re still alive, they looked a T. rex in the eye and nothing terrible happened—it’s so incredible that Alan keeps just shaking his head, he’s still trying to process that this is real life, that he looked that thing right in the eye and he’s still alive. “Goddammit,” Ian says, leaning over to catch his breath. “I thought I’d pass out when I saw it.”

“Glad we did this?” Alan asks. The pure fear in his veins has mostly subsided and his academic interest is beginning to take over. His eyes start to search the T. rex’s body, observing its toned legs and the deliberate way it moves. It’s almost like a gigantic, scaly stork, lifting its foot and curving its ankle every time it takes a step.

“Hell yeah. You kidding me? Now that I’ve, ah, looked this thing in the eye? I’m not havin’ any more panic attacks when we watch your dinosaur shows, that’s for goddamn sure.” He reaches his arm out and gestures at the rex with an open palm. “Stood right in front of its fuckin’ face! We’re—we’re a couple of fearless bastards, that’s what we are!”

“Sure are,” Alan nods. They pause for a long time, watching the T. rex take a few steps in the woods in front of them, stop and hold still for minutes at a time and then do the same thing until it’s made its way through the entire clearing. Alan turns and looks at Ian after a while. “You scared?”

Ian shakes his head decisively. “You’d think I would be, but nope. You?”

“No.” There’s another long, peaceful pause, and the distant cries of birds or pterosaurs are the only sounds in the viewing chamber. “You know,” Alan says as a sudden memory strikes him, “the website for this place said this rex has been here for more than twenty years. And I think a sign in the queue said that, too.”

“Really? Well, it’s—uh—still forty younger than us.” He cracks one of those grins that always make Alan smile.

“Right, but if it’s been on the island for more than twenty years, and we went here about that long ago…”

A moment passes, and realization finally dawns on Ian’s face. “You really think so?”

“Think it’s the same one?” Ian nods. “Well unless there’s more than one—yes.”

Ian furrows his brow and stares at the animal that’s about ten feet away. He cocks his head to the side, taps his fingers against his injured leg and finally nods. “Yeah. The—the same rex. How about that.” Almost as an afterthought, he cups his hand beside his mouth and loudly pronounces, “Hey, fuck you.”

“”Fuck you?”” Alan repeats.

“Yeah.” He puts his hand to his mouth again and nearly shouts, “Hey, you fucked up my whole life, you—you big ancient bitch!” Alan chuckles and shakes his head, and Ian continues, “You know what you did to those kids? And that guy, that Gennaro guy? And me and Alan? Fuck you!” He prods Alan with his elbow. “C’mon, honey, try it.”

“You do know it can’t hear us?”

“It’s healthy, it’s cathartic. C’mon.”

“If you insist.” Alan halfheartedly shouts, “You almost killed Lex and Tim!” He pauses and turns to Ian. “This isn’t helping. It was just an animal trying to find food, you know—”

“Dig deeper,” Ian insists. “You’re not dragging me to this park a second—second time. So let it out now.”

“I’ve had nightmares for twenty years,” Alan yells after making sure Ian sees him roll his eyes. “And therapy’s expensive, so… fuck you for that, I suppose.” He stops to think. “You ate that Gennaro man, and you almost ate Ian—” All of a sudden, he realizes what Ian is trying to do here, what this is about. “You almost ate Ian!” Alan yells, rage flaring up that he doesn’t even know he had. “You could’ve killed him!”

Ian claps and grins. “That’s the spirit. You almost killed my boyfriend, you bastard! And you fucked up my leg!”

“You ruined our lives!” Alan shouts gleefully. “Go to hell!”

They shout at the rex for a little bit, letting things out that for years and years they’ve crushed and suppressed. The animal doesn’t notice them in the least, of course, but that doesn’t take away any of their vigor. Ian and Alan dig up every last thing that’s haunted their memories and filled them with fear for all this time, and they sling everything at the rex at the top of their lungs, along with all the insults and epithets in their vocabularies. After a while their repositories of terrible memories run dry, and as they’re leaning on each other’s shoulders, Ian comments, “It’s gone.”

He’s right. Somehow, the T. rex has walked away without either of them noticing. The clearing in the woods is still again, the only movement being ferns rustling in the breeze. Ian shrugs and says, “Guess that’s over with. What happens now?”

Alan’s mind and body are nearly exhausted, but his heart has begun to feel strangely buoyant, and he feels happy, light and free in a way that he hasn’t in a terribly long time. “Anything we want,” he says, squeezing Ian’s broad shoulder. He notices that the sky has long since ceased shining. Night is here, and only moonlight fills the hallway they’re in; the low chirp of cicadas in the distance is steadily rising. “You ready to head home?”

“It’s not quite, uh, time to go yet.” Ian looks over, and Alan can clearly see a new serenity shining in his eyes. “Wanna go see the trikes again before we leave?”

“Sounds good.” Hand in hand, they walk out of the empty hall, through the gates and back into the streets of the theme park. Ian and Alan don’t look back as the T. rex enclosure disappears behind them, and even though chatter from other visitors fills the air and Jurassic World is still very much alive, all is quiet in their world.


End file.
